This cup tie ended all square meaning that Dale will have to play Scarboro again at Spotland Tuesday week.  

This cup tie ended all square meaning that Dale will have to play Scarboro again at Spotland Tuesday week. Another missed penalty cost Dale in the opening minutes, but in the end we were happy to return to Spotland for another crack at the Yorkshire side.

Dale lengthened their unbeaten run to six matches as they made heavy weather against a lowly placed Scarboro side. It was a mixed game with both teams experiencing lengthy spells on top.

Mark Stuart was recalled to the starting line up as a replacement for the cup tied loan man Miquel De Souza and Andy Farrell replaced David Bayliss who had to make do with a spot on the bench,

Dale started very brightly indeed, cheered on by the largest Dale following of the season. The magic of the cup certainly brings out the Dale fans, though it seemed to have no effect at all on Scarboro judging by the sparse home terraces.

Dale made a couple of early attacks and from a cross over the ball was handled by a Scarboro though this was unseen by the majority of the travelling support. The ref pointed to the spot, and upstepped Robbie Painter who saw his shot saved by the Scarboro keeper Tony Elliott. This is the sixth penalty awarded in Dale matches this season and a total of five have been saved by the relevant keepers. This blow took a bit of the stuffing out of the Dale fans and team, but Dale continued to be on top with some considerable ease.

As the half progressed, Scarboro came back into it as Dale sat back. They came close to scoring on several occasions and (here we go again) if it wasn't for a certain Mr. Edwards the game could have been long over by half time. He made a magnificent save tipping the ball around his left hand post when it looked like a certain goal. There were two more world class saves before the half was out. We are extremely lucky to have this man at our club. It was reported before the game that the club have had two bids for him so far this season from "higher division clubs", one of which was in the last week. The latest bidding club have been told to come back with a decent offer.

The second half continued with Dale playing as poorly as they finished the first half, and it was no surprise when Scarboro took the lead within a couple of minutes of the restart. The ball found its way to Gareth Williams who was in acres of space in the Dale box, and he left Taffy with no chance as he rifled home from close range. This should have sparked Dale into action, but they still struggled to have any real opportunities. Passes were going astray and I have not seen the Dale players arguing amongst themselves as much as they did today. Frustrations were getting to the spectators who voiced their disapproval at events on the pitch and we had the unwelcome return of Dale fans arguing amongst themselves once again.

Gary Jones was replaced by Isidro Diaz who made his first appearance since the Peterboro match. This enabled Dale to be a hell of a lot more threatening up front. Stuart was allowed to drift out to the right hand side rather than as an out and out centre forward as he had struggled to be throughout the game. Robbie Painter played as an out and out striker and did an awful amount of running as Dale chased the game. The breakthrough looked to have come when Robbie Painter fired home after some clever passing work inside the Scarboro box, but he was adjudged to have been offside and it looked the right decision.

Dale continued to threaten and the equaliser soon came. A cross came over, and was headed goalwards by Mark Monington in the direction of Robbie Painter who got a little flick on it and the ball was pushed onto the crossbar only to fall for a very happy Ian Bryson one yard out who had the simple task to tap it in to score his first goal for the club.

Despite equalising, Dale continued to press and came close to snatching it in the final few minutes, give or take another superb Taffy save. The final whistle brought a mixture of relief and frustration, as Dale knew that Scarboro should have been easily finished off.

It was a strange game as Dale played very well for the first twenty minutes and the last twenty minutes, but were at times dreadful in between. They certainly made hard work of it against a poor Scarboro team.

Dale: Edwards, Williams, Sparrow, Hill, Monington, Farrell, Jones (Diaz), Painter, Stuart, Bryson, Peake. subs not used Key, Carden, Bayliss, Bailey.
Man of the Match: Neil Edwards
 

Photo: Action Images

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